El Huequito Taco Sencillo (Dose of Vitamin P)

My Club Tengo Hambre tour of Mexico City’s Centro Historico with host Mariana Goméz Rubio started at Palacio de Bellas Artes. From there, we navigated one market and made six notable street food stops, none better than El Huequito.

El Huequito is well known for tacos al pastor, pork loin that’s marinated with a secret mix of “seeds, chiles, and spices” – but no fire red achiote – stacked atop an onion on a spit before getting turned and shaved by hand. Condesa has many restaurants known for tacos al pastor, but as Rubio said, “Real taco people come to this one.” It’s hard to argue with their choice, a tiny stainless steel counter that dates to 1959 with a name that translates from Spanish as “hole in the wall.”

Taco Sencillo (18 pesos ~ 88 cents) featured crusty pork shavings wrapped in a warm corn tortilla, griddled and served with two salsas. Cooling salsa verde combined creamy avocado with cilantro, and tomatillo. A mild, but still flavorful orange salsa showcased chile guajillo and tomato. I could have eaten 10 tacos if we didn’t have so many other stops. In fact, customers can do just that by ordering Especial (126 peso) teaming a mountain of pork with a stack of corn tortillas.

El Huequito has other locations, but none can match the original stand’s level of old school charm.